August 9th

Today is the birthday

… of Bob Cousy, basketball hall-of-famer. He’s 83. Bob Cousy was a star of such stature that when a new basketball coach was hired by my high school in 1958, his claim to fame was he’d held Cousy to ten points once in college.

… of Rod Laver, tennis hall-of-famer. He’s 73.

… of Ken Norton, boxing hall-of-famer. He’s 68.

… of Sam Elliott, 67 today. Elliott just looks like a cowboy, or the image we think of when we think of cowboy. Even so, NewMexiKen liked him best as General John Buford in Gettysburg and he was good in The Contender.

… of Melanie Griffith, 54 today. No longer a working “girl.” She got an Oscar nomination for best actress for that role. Ms. Griffith’s mother is Tippi Hedren, known from the Hitchcock thriller The Birds.

… of Whitney Houston, 48.

… of Brett Hull, hockey hall-of-famer. He’s 47.

… of Deion Sanders. Sanders played for the Atlanta Falcons, San Francisco 49ers, Dallas Cowboys, Washington Redskins and Baltimore Ravens and was on Super Bowl champion teams with the 49ers and Cowboys. He also played for the New York Yankees, Atlanta Braves, Cincinnati Reds and San Francisco Giants. Sanders is 44.

… of Audrey Tautou, 33. If she’s made any bad movies, I haven’t seen them. In America I suppose she is best known as Sophie Neveu in The Da Vinci Code. Check out Amélie or A Very Long Engagement.

… of Robert Shaw, born on this date in 1927. Shaw was Doyle Lonegan in The Sting and Captain Quint in Jaws. He was nominated for the Best Actor in a Supporting Role for his portrayal of Henry VIII in A Man for All Seasons. A favorite of NewMexiKen is his work as Mr. Blue in The Taking of Pelham One Two Three. Shaw died in 1978.

Izaak Walton was born on this date in 1593. He’s the author of many books, most famously The Compleat Angler, first published in 1653.

Indeed, my good scholar, we may say of angling, as Dr. Boteler said of strawberries, “Doubtless God could have made a better berry, but doubtless God never did”; and so, if I might be judge, God never did make a more calm, quiet, innocent recreation than angling.

Jesse Owens won the fourth of his four Olympic gold medals on this date in 1936. In Berlin, Owens won gold for the 100 meters, 200 meters, long jump and — on August 9th — the leadoff leg of the 400 meter relay (a world record that lasted for 20 years).